'I'd never duck a challenge like this' - Andrew Black rolls the dice and supplements Breege for the Foret

A desire to test Breege again at the highest level before she retires to stud has prompted owner-breeders Andrew and Jane Black to supplement the filly for Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp.

Breege was added to the contest at a cost of €25,200 (£21,169) on Thursday with Big Rock also supplemented by his connections. The race will be Breege’s first at Group 1 level since May last year when she finished seventh in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh.

Breege claimed her biggest success at York’s Ebor festival on her most recent start when she downed odds-on favourite Audience to win the Group 2 City of York Stakes at 33-1.

That performance, and encouraging feedback from trainers John and Sean Quinn, has been enough for the Blacks to commit to Sunday’s race where the four-year-old’s opponents are set to include the likes of Ramatuelle, Shouldvebeenaring, Kinross and Tribalist.

Andrew Black said: “We debated it at length and it’s going to be a high-quality race and a big ask for her. However, my view is that you have to do it as it would be cowardly not to; I’d never duck a challenge like this.

Prix du Calvados winner Simmering was added to the Prix Marcel Boussac fieldCredit: Racing Post/Scott Burton

“Unless she does something remarkable she’s going to be retired at the end of the year and we want to test her and find out if she’s good enough at this level. John and Sean are happy to put her in the race which means they feel she’s as good as she’s ever been. It was a fantastic performance last time and I think she’s progressing.”

Alongside Breege and Big Rock, there were two other supplementary entries for races on Arc day. Simmering, trained by Ollie Sangster for Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, was added to the Prix Marcel Boussac for €28,800 (£24,194), while Heybetli was supplemented for the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for the same cost. On Wednesday, Bluestocking was added to the Arc at a cost of €120,000 (£100,800).

Simmering chased home Lake Victoria, the subsequent winner of the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes on her last start having won the Group 2 Prix du Calvados at Deauville in August.

Lake Victoria’s trainer, Aidan O’Brien, has left three fillies in the Prix Marcel Boussac – Bedtime Story, January and Exactly – while the exciting Zarigana, a granddaughter of Arc winner Zarkava, also features among the 11 confirmations for the Aga Khan and Francis Graffard.

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